State Calls One-Day Halt to Redwood Forest Logging

Citing the illegal removal of one tree, state officials Wednesday called a 24-hour halt to a controversial salvage logging operation in an old-growth redwood grove in the Headwaters Forest.

At the same time, the state Board of Forestry rejected a petition, supported by the Clinton administration and California’s two senators, to stop indefinitely the salvage work in the North Coast forest, the last substantial expanse of ancient redwood trees in private hands.

The salvage logging that began Monday enraged environmentalists and disturbed state and federal officials who feared it would aggravate tensions and make it difficult to meet the terms of an agreement, signed 10 days ago, to preserve a 7,500-acre segment of the forest.

The logging prompted a renewal of protests that government negotiators had hoped would end with the signing of the agreement.

On Tuesday, according to officials of the California Department of Forestry, Pacific Lumber Co. loggers engaged in salvage work knocked down a small tree in violation of a permit limiting timber removal to fallen trees in old growth groves.

After the incident was reported by a state inspector, the department issued a 24-hour stop-work order that can be extended at the discretion of the state.

“The salvage operations are to cease until we are convinced that the company is fully informed of the conditions imposed on this particular operation,” said Jim Burroughs, chief deputy director of the department.

Despite the infraction, however, Burroughs said his department recommended to the forestry board that it reject a petition by the Sierra Club and the Natural Heritage Institute that called for a long-term cessation of salvage logging in old-growth redwood groves on the grounds that it would severely damage the forest.

“The department did not believe there was a connection made between the salvage operations, which remove an average of one medium-sized tree per acre, and any immediate threat to the general welfare of the forest ecosystem,” Burroughs said.

The board’s 4 to 2 vote in favor of the petition to halt the logging fell short of the five-vote majority that was needed to pass the measure.